Debit Card Car Hire

A common question that we regularly get from our customers is "Can I hire a car with a debit card?". Many people don't actually consider the fact that most rental companies will only accept credit cards, so you need to pick and choose your suppliers in order to avoid disappointment upon arrival.

To answer the question quickly, Yes you can hire a car with a debit card, with ease, you just need to find the right supplier! Find out how to below.

Country Specific Debit Card Car Hire Instructions

Travelling to one of these countries? We’ve done the leg work for you!

Click on the link(s) to find a more detailed description of what suppliers you can go with if you want to hire a car with your debit card.

Answer

Hiring a car with a debit card is absolutely possible.

In order to ensure that you have no issues make sure that your debit card is a VISA debit card that displays the visa logo and has raised numbers.

The numbers can’t be flat against the card, often raised numbers are silver and flat numbers are black. The reason being is that these are two different kind of debit cards and some suppliers don’t accept cards with flat numbers, which is common with Santander cards.

Unfortunately there are still areas where debit cards are not accepted. In some areas there aren’t any of the suppliers which allow debit card car hire which can be an issue. It’s less common than most people think though and majority of companies will in fact accept debit cards. You need to be really careful when selecting your supplier to ensure that they take your payment method.

The Car Hire Deposit Issue

There can be restrictions to debit card car hire because some suppliers are reluctant to accept debit cards. Typically car rental suppliers will only accept credit cards, as this is easier for them to take money in case of any damage to the vehicle.

The problem is that not everyone has a credit card, and sometimes debit cards are just more accessible, people often presume that debit cards are just accepted anywhere so in the car hire industry this can cause a lot of issues.

Steps To Hire A Car Without A Credit Card

Step 1:
Run a quote for your desired location and choose the car which you are interested in.

Step 2:
This still doesn't show you if debit cards are accepted, so select the car and the car rental company that you like the look of then click the T&Cs section which is pictured here, remember to have a look at a few different suppliers!

Step 3:
Once you have clicked the T&Cs click the tab that says "What You Need At Pick Up" and under the "Acceptable forms of payment" you will see what types of card you are allowed to pay with.

Step 4:
There are some other things to note:

Most companies will not accept prepaid, recharge or virtual credit cards – or any card on which the relevant characters are not raised (‘embossed’).

Further Debit Card Car Rental FAQs

Some companies that regularly offer this through our booking engine are

-Avis
-Goldcar
-Europcar
-Keddy
-Budget
-RecordGo

Major suppliers that do not accept debit cards include

-Alamo
-Thrifty

What About Other Payment Methods Such As Hiring A Car With PayPal?

This is not available and there isn’t any suppliers that we are aware of that will allow for hiring a car with PayPal, this is to do with security restrictions and the deposit. The most commonly accepted payment methods are major credit cards and debit cards, it’s very rare that anything else will be accepted.

I left car hire to the last minute and was in real trouble, I've never believed in having a credit card and i didn't think this would be a problem but after calling a few hired companies I was turned away. After a more in depth search I found this site and managed to get a car with my card.